By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Henning Hornets wrapped up their Park Region Conference schedule last week with a win over the Verndale Pirates on Friday night. The win improved the Hornets to 12-12 overall and 6-8 in the conference. 

The six conference wins ends the Hornets conference season in a tie with Bertha-Hewitt for fifth place behind just Menahga at 14-0, Wadena-Deer Creek at 12-2, New York Mills at 8-6 and Pillager at 7-7. Sebeka finished the season with a conference record of 3-11 and Verndale finished 0-14. 

The Hornets will wrap up their regular season this week with a pair of home games, including Tuesday night against Brandon-Evansville and Thursday night against Parkers Prairie. 

Tuesday

After defeating New York Mills in a thrilling 51-49 win earlier this season, Henning was unable to complete the season sweep over the Eagles as they fell by a score of 67-54 on the road on Tuesday night. 

“It was a back-and-forth game all night. We had to battle defensively from start to finish and just couldn’t come up with enough stops down the stretch. It was a quality conference and section match up,” said head coach Ryan Emter. 

Henning held a 23-19 lead at halftime and actually led for a majority of the second half, before NY Mills went on a big run down the stretch to pull away for good. They ended up making their free throws and went 14-20 from the free throw line to come away with the conference win. 

The Hornets shot just under 33 percent from the floor, while NY Mills shot 43 percent, but the difference proved to be at the free throw line where the Eagles made five more free throws and at the 3-point line where NY Mills went 7-20 and Henning just 5-24. Both teams did a good job of hanging onto the ball as Henning turned the ball over just eight times and NY Mills turned it over just 11 times.

Even though the Hornets came out on the short end of the score, Emter said it is exciting for the Hornets to be competing with quality opponents down the stretch of the season in front of large crowds of Henning fans. 

“They just did things a little better than we did in the second half. If you look at the stats, you’ll probably see slightly higher percentages across the board, and that was essentially the difference in the game. It’s fun to already be competing in these bigger match ups in front of a great crowd from both sides with it being a double header,” said Emter.

The Hornets were led offensively by Stella Iliff who scored 15 points, while Addison Bode scored 13 and Callie Thompson scored 12 points. Alivia Emter chipped in with nine points, Bella Olson scored four points and Lily Grieger scored one point off the bench. 

POINTS: Callie Thompson 12, Alivia Emter 9, Lily Grieger 1, Addison Bode 13, Bella Olson 4, Stella Iliff 15

ASSISTS: Callie Thompson 2, Alivia Emter 2, Lily Grieger 1, Addison Bode 2, Stella Iliff 4

REBOUNDS: Callie Thompson 4, Alivia Emter 4, Lily Grieger 4, Addison Bode 7, Bella Olson 2, Abbigale Godding 1, Stella Iliff 2

STEALS: Callie Thompson 1, Alivia Emter 1, Lily Grieger 1

BLOCKS: Alivia Emter 1, Addison Bode 1, Bella Olson 1

Thursday

The Henning Hornets made the trek to Frazee on Thursday night to take on a different Hornet team in the form of the Class AA 10th ranked Frazee Hornets. 

Unfortunately, the Frazee Hornets and their senior laden team led by University of North Dakota commit Jayden Sonnenberg were able to get past the mostly underclassmen team of Henning by a score of 76-44.

“The girls came out and competed hard against a really good 2AA Frazee Hornets team,” said head coach Ryan Emter. “We did some really nice things offensively, even though we weren’t able to score every time down the floor. It was a great opportunity for us to see just how hard you have to play to reach that next level.”

In a close game throughout much of the first half, Frazee went on a run midway through the opening 18 minutes of action to pull away and take a 45-22 lead at the break. Frazee and Henning played back-and-forth throughout the second half with Henning being outscored just 31-22 in the final 18 minutes of action against one of the top teams in Class AA.

Even though the Henning Hornets dropped the game they were able to get open shots throughout the contest that just didn’t go down. Henning shot 31 percent from the floor and turned the ball over just 11 times in the game. Henning went 10-11 from the free throw line and 11-26 on shots from inside the 2-point line.

“We were good from the free throw line and did a nice job of limiting our turnovers,” said Emter. 

Alivia Emter led the way offensively for Henning with 12 points, while Lily Grieger had a solid night off the bench with 10 points on just 4-6 shooting. Callie Thompson scored six points, Addison Bode and Abbi Godding each scored five points, Stella Iliff scored four points and Bella Olson rounded out the scoring with two points. 

POINTS: Callie Thompson 6, Alivia Emter 12, Lily Grieger 10, Addison Bode 5, Bella Olson 2, Abbigale Godding 5, Stella Iliff 4

ASSISTS: Callie Thompson 1, Alivia Emter 1, Brynn Reinbold 2, Addison Bode 1, Bella Olson 1, Stella Iliff 4

REBOUNDS: Callie Thompson 1, Alivia Emter 2, Brooklynn Geyer 1, Brynn Reinbold 3, Lily Grieger 3, Addison Bode 2, Abbigale Godding 1, Stella Iliff 5

STEALS: Callie Thompson 2, Alivia Emter 4, Stella Iliff 1

BLOCKS: Lily Grieger 1, Addison Bode 1, Abbigale Godding 1, Stella Iliff 1

Friday

Henning hit the road for the third time last week and second straight day as they traveled to Verndale to wrap up their Park Region Conference schedule on Friday night. After securing an 80-40 win over the Pirates earlier this season, the Hornets came into the contest looking to tie Bertha-Hewitt for fifth place in the conference, but had its work cut out for it as the Pirates who were 0-13 in the conference took a 26-24 lead at halftime. 

“There are no easy games on the schedule with where we’re at in our development, and we understand that. We have to come out and play well every night, no matter the opponent. It wasn’t a lack of effort. We just weren’t very sharp early, and Verndale was hitting shots,” said head coach Ryan Emter. “After trailing by two at halftime, we picked up our defensive pressure and forced them into tougher looks. That allowed us to generate some easier opportunities on the offensive end, which really helped swing the momentum to close out the games.”

The Hornets outscored the Pirates 36-25 in the second half and took the lead for good a few minutes into the final 18 minutes of action. Henning shot 35.7 percent from the floor and made an astounding 14 3-pointers on just 28 shots. The Hornet defense also had an amazing 17 deflections on the defensive end of the court. 

“Alivia Emter had her best game of the year with 28 points. Stella Iliff got her outside shooting going tonight and knocked down four 3s. I was also really happy with what we got from Abbi Godding, both offensively and defensively,” said Emter. “Going 50 percent from the 3-point line was the difference in the game.”

Alivia Emter had a huge night from the floor as she knocked down six 3-pointers on her way to 28 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Stella Iliff finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists of her won.

Callie Thompson scored seven points, Abbi Godding scored six points and Bella Olson rounded out the scoring with five points in the win. 

POINTS: Callie Thompson 7, Alivia Emter 28, Bella Olson 5, Abbigale Godding 6, Stella Iliff 14

ASSISTS: Alivia Emter 4, Addison Bode 3, Bella Olson 1, Abbigale Godding 1, Stella Iliff 5

REBOUNDS: Callie Thompson 4, Alivai Emter 5, Lily Grieger 3, Addison Bode 5, Bella Olson 5, Abbigale Godding 1, Stella Iliff 5

STEALS: Callie Thompson 2, Alivia Emter 2, Addison Bode 3, Bella Olson 1, Abbigale Godding 2, Stella Iliff 1

BLOCKS: Callie Thompson 1, Alivia Emter 1, Addison Bode 1, Abbigale Godding 1